BEIJING: China’s foreign trade is expected to expand steadily in the coming months, driven by the government’s supportive policies and the resilience of its industrial chain in electromechanical industry, experts said.
In August, the value of China’s foreign trade in goods grew 8.6 percent year-on-year to 3.71 trillion yuan ($531.6 billion), and the figure reached 27.3 trillion yuan in the first eight months of this year, up 10.1 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.
Though the growth rate in August was slower compared with July’s 16.6 percent year-on-year growth, due to the high base last year and a weakening in global demand, the experts said, China’s foreign trade will be able to maintain double-digit growth in the second half of the year, and is expected to be a major driver of its economic growth this year. “Many global orders are likely to flow back to China in the fourth quarter as infections with Omicron’s new sub-variants have soared in Vietnam, disturbing its supply chain for foreign customers, especially in labor-intensive manufacturing,” said Bai Ming, deputy director of international market research at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing.
“And bilateral and multilateral free trade deals, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, will be practical tools for China to put its foreign trade growth on a firmer footing,” Bai added.
The surging cost of production materials and energy prices in Europe and South Korea, as well as declining international shipping freight costs, will ensure global continued demand for Chinese products in the coming months, said Su Qingyi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of World Economics and Politics in Beijing.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
